Misfortune's Path
Yeah, about the job I do. It's not pretty. But it’s the only job I have. The first thing I felt when I stepped in that den was absolute hate. You could tell there was something wrong with the place. Cats, with unkempt fur and worst expressions I have ever seen laboriously worked, sorting out mice, rabbits, and other pieces of prey. What community? Well, I, Falcon, one of the lowest of the lowest, live in a world of destruction, cruelty, and desolation. In other words, welcome to the Alleys, a stinking, rotten place where a bunch of twolegs built a whole community of gigantic nests, and then abandoned it. To make a long story short, a group of cats, wanting to "unite" the nation of cat-kind, built a huge community here. The real name to this infernal place is called the Association of Unition, but the Alleys is more of an appropriate name. The Uniters, or the leaders and the high ranking cats of the Alleys stuff their faces with plump, juicy prey that the hunters caught, and then give about ten percent of the food to the rest of us, which is a meager pile of scrawny mice that barely sustains us. Our jobs are to catch the food,sort the food, bring the food to the Uniters, and distribute the meager scrap pile to the starving community. There are many rules, like not leaving the Alleys or eating the Uniter's food, and any rule breakers caught get punished, mostly by death. The population here is huge, because many cats here hear the dirty rumors that our community is a shining nation where we are equal. And when you get in, you are officially a citizen of the Alleys. To make things simple, you can get in, but you can't get out. My parents were tricked in that way, had me, and died. You see, that is the fate of many who live here. I am assigned in sorting out the prey into two piles: one for the Uniters, and one for the rest of the community. It is so torturous, being so close to food, but yet so far. I sort out in the Uniter’s pile, and if there is one mistake, the Uniters will track you down and rip your fur to pieces. It is very boring work, with no breaks, and this close contact to food has led to some pretty gruesome executions in the past. I am determined not to get tempted by the delicious aromas around me, and focus on my task. There are two reasons why I am still alive; one is, of course, my siblings. Just before they died, my family had another litter. They are the cutest things ever, and I give most of our rations to them. They need it the most, and my wages, (a scrawny mouse a day) also go to them. Even though they are better fed than me, they are skinny little skeletons, like any other of the community. The other reason is my friends, who all are in the same predicament like me, starving, orphaned, and struggling to feed their family. Lake, Boulder,and Horse, all work at the sorting prey place, where I met them. Even now, as I sort my pile, I see them, skinny, starved, and weak, working away in this death trap. Maybe that’s why we never could organize a rebellion. The well fed Uniters and their troops, which are better fed than us, obliterate any signs of rebellion. They make us lose hope, starve us, and break us to the point of death. Their cruelty knows no bounds. Lake is beckoning me to come to him. He whispers in my ear, "Meet us at sundown, at our secret area." Oh yeah, the secret area! We found a small pond that had a cave underwater that was not discovered by the Unitists. We intend to keep it that way. "Get back to work, fox dung!" A Unitist troop slashes me across my back. Feeling blood dripping down my fur, I wince in pain and start sorting out the prey again. After a grueling day of sorting out piles of prey in the hot, stinky den, I make my way to the pond with my little piece of prey in my mouth. Out of the blue, a gang of young cats my age surround me and demand my wage. Grudgingly, I hand it over, not wanting to risk a fight. After taking my hard-earned dinner, the gang vanishes into the shadows. Well, there goes my dinner. I shake my head and hurry to the pond. Gangs are a big problem here. They steal prey from cats like me, and even go far as to killing a cat for food. Slipping into the dark recesses of the pool and stepping into the surprisingly warm cavern, I find three pairs of eyes shining in the darkness. It takes a while till my eyes adjust to the darkness, and I see Horse rushing up to greet me. Horse, with long slender legs, a reddish-brown coat, and a free spirited manner, lives up to the animal she was named for. Of course, we have only heard stories of horses, but we know enough to see why Horse was named after horses. She skids to a stop, and begins checking over the gash the troop gave me. "Are you okay? He hit you pretty hard." She looks at me with concern. "Of course he's all right. He's a tough guy." Boulder chuckles, and slaps my back. A little winded from the slap, which was pretty hard, I manage to gasp out a faint ," I'm fine", and slump on the floor. Lake clears his throat. "Um, the reason I called you all is very important, so listen, all of you. How should I start?" I grin. Lake is a very thoughtful cat, but he gets very flustered sometimes. Boulder shows no concern for the scrawny gray cat's sputtering. He slaps him on the back, and bellows, "Get on with it!" I wince inwardly. Boulder is what you can call all brawn and no brains. He has got the sense of a boulder sometimes, hence his namesake. Lake,on his side like a fish out of water, wheezes something incoprehensible, then slumps to he floor, visibly frustrated. After a while of trying to get his breath back, Lake sits up. "I think I know a way to stop the Unititists once and for all!", he annouces, eyes shining. We immediatly snap to attention. Boulder trips himself over in surprise. Horse is congratulating Lake. I just stand there, astonished. How can anyone defeat the Unitists? No one has even killed a Unitist yet. Its almost impossible! " Thats Boulder. Okay, listen." Lake shakes off the animatedly happy Horse, and stands in the middle of the cave. "All we need to do is to get some cats outside, then that group becomes healthier. Finally that group will finally go back to the Alle-" Boulder impulsively slaps Lake again, and he goes down. "Go back to the ALLEYS?!" Boulder roared. "Are you mad?! The group should engage the Unitists, and destroy them!" Lake, recovering from the slap, gave Boulder a pointed glare. "Thats why all rebellions failed!" They lacked tactics and brains. As I was saying, they will go back to the Alleys, recruit more cats, and get them out. The Unitists will think that that they died, due to a disease or something, and never suspect anything. THEN, we will attack the Unitists." Lake stares at us proudly. As always, Boulder interrupts him. "Who will get out of the Alleys? It's too dangerous for anybody to agree. It's punishable by death!" Lake rolls his eyes. "We are going to get out. We can't tell anybody that we are plotting this. Too risky. At least until we get stronger. I also have devised a way to get out." With that, he pointed to the bottom of the pond, which was filled with mud. "There!" Later, I stand at the entrance of my shabby, small nest, home to my siblings and I, thinking of what Lake had said to us. '' "I've been exploring the bottom of that pond, and I found a secret tunnel leading out of the city! Although I've never been brave enough to explore all of it, which I discovered the day before yesterday, I have found that there is a twoleg- thing at the end of the tunnel that is easily movable''.'' Lakefoot was a complete genius! It only took him two days to figure out what was impossible: a way out of the Alleys. Now, for a short time, at least, there was a way free from the Unitists! Now as I listen to the sounds of my little siblings, I think Lakefoot's plan over. What would happen with my siblings? They were only six moons old. We couldn't take them along. It would be too noisy. I sigh and step into the cozy chambers of the den. Immediatly, my siblings, Rose and Thorn, sister and brother, throw themselves playfully at me and I go down to a pile of kits. Purring, I shake them off. I am bombarded by a series of questions. Why am I late coming home? What's that cool looking gash on your back for? I fix the kits with a stern glare, then end up laughing along with the kits, because they say that my "stern face" looks more like making dirt than a stern face. These kits are so innocent. They don't deserve a fate like this. Maybe, if we take them along..... I fall into a deep sleep. I blink my eyes blearily at the morning sun. Its just after sunrise, and now, I have to go to work, as usual. Except that this day, we actually have a way to get out of here. The day goes by slowly, and I can hardly wait till work ends so I can discuss plans with my friends. When my work ends, the soldier throws the mouse at me, and it smashes to the floor, squashed to the point where it's unedible. "Oops", he sneers at me cruelly. "Guess I dropped something." I grit my teeth in anger, but I still walk away. The others are waiting. Lake, Boulder,and Horse are in our secret cave, about to start the meeting ,when I burst in. "Alright, so you all heard my plans yesterday. Any questions?", Lake asks. Unease still bubbling inside of me, I rise to my feet. "What about our families?" They're relying on us to support them! How are we going to work this?!", I say. Lake raises an eyebrow. "Do I have to do every single thing around here?" Horse retorts," Falcon asked a good question! How are we supposed to take care of our families?" Lake sputters, "Uh, obviously, I am still working on the plan! It is not perfect, but will soon be.", he blusters. Lake sighs and closes his eyes in concentration. We all stay silent, even Boulder, because we all know when he is thinking his hardest. Suddenly, his eyes fly open. "I've got it! We leave them to the care of Aqua!" Aqua is the head of the Caretakers, an organization that served to take care of orphans. "She still owes us a favor from saving some of her orphans from the Bloodfang gang!" We all grin, remembering our exploits and adventures, when we had at least mothers and fathers, and times were better. Maybe one day those times could come back again......maybe someday. Days go by. Finally, our plan is ready. Thanks to Lake, we had a day when we departed, a day when we came back, even an estimated guess when we defeated the Unitists. "Everybody set?",Lakefoot asks. We all nod. It was sad to see our siblings go, but it was for the best. Aquaclaw had been more than happy to take care of our siblings,as the kind she-cat said,"we are all a part of this. If we dont help each other, we are just as bad as the Uniters." My siblings,of course, are sad to see me go, and kept on pestering me to let them go with me. But I know its for the best,maybe even a ticket to their freedom. Horse's younger sister actually clung to Horse's leg and wouldn't let go until she promised to come back. We head toward the tunnel that Lake found, and I take a deep breath. It's time to go to the world where I never knew, only saw outside the guards. As I step out of the tunnel, into the bright sunlight, I know that nothing will ever be the same again.